


I’ll never know the answer

by bradfordswoody



Category: One Direction (Band), Zayn Malik (Musician)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Fluff, Jock!Liam, M/M, Nerd!Zayn, i just really needed some fluff in my life so here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-17
Updated: 2015-09-17
Packaged: 2018-04-21 05:11:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4816262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bradfordswoody/pseuds/bradfordswoody
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zayn doesn't think he's smart but Liam believes in him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I’ll never know the answer

**Author's Note:**

> Hey!!! If you're reading this, cool. If you skipped this, cool.
> 
> Just wanna say thanks because I haven't written in a while and it's really short and practically self indulgent and I'm glad it's put up finally. 
> 
> Title from One Direction - "Irresistible" 
> 
> Enjoy xx

While Liam’s thumbs sped over the buttons on his controller Zayn’s eyes flew across the pages of his textbook, his right hand turning to the next page and his left hand holding a mug of straight black coffee. In the background he hears the fighting on screen from the video game Liam is playing – frankly Zayn doesn’t know or care which one it is – even though he asked him to turn it down a while ago. Sighing he pushes his thick-square glasses up the bridge of his nose. He sticks his pencil in his textbook to mark the page and taps Liam on the shoulder.

“Yeah babe?” Liam says not even willing to take his eyes off the screen let alone pause the game. Zayn rolls his eyes but continues on.

“Li, can you please turn it down. I’m trying to study and all the background noise is distracting.” Zayn huffs out still a little upset that Liam hasn’t bothered to look at him. 

When Liam finally has enough courtesy to pay attention to Zayn he goes as far as pausing whatever was on the screen and turning to the younger boy. “It’s not my fault you waited this long to study,” Liam snorts when Zayn pouts at him. “You usually have all of that down by now cause you’re supposed to be the geeky smart one that’s into comic books and I’m supposed to be the smashing jock that smells like a caveman.” He said with a wink. Zayn wanted nothing more than to smack him right now.

“First of all, do not call me a geek when I know you love Batman more than me. Just because you fancy DC over Marvel doesn’t mean I’m a nerd. Second, I’m sure your mum thinks I’m smashing. And third, you’re almost as smart as me. Almost. But I wouldn’t disagree with you on the whole caveman shit. Cause when you come over after practice sometimes I want to avoid hugging you.” The smaller boy says offering a small smile to Liam feigning a pout. “And I have studied everyday for the past week. Every time I try to study I just don’t get it like I’ll read through it but I can’t process it. I just don’t understand.” The dark-haired boy sighed with his eyes glistening. He shifts away from Liam and takes a moment to breathe. He refuses to cry especially in front of Liam and especially since he’s being a baby over nothing.

It’s just that he doesn’t like it, that feeling. He doesn’t like not understanding something and it frustrates him because he knows that he should. He knows that he should be able to get it but for some reason it doesn’t register with him and he feels stupid. He knows he’s not stupid, but he feels like it. And he hates that, he expects more from himself.

With Zayn’s eyes closed he doesn’t see Liam get up from the couch, put the controller away, and turn the TV off. He opens his eyes when he feels Liam’s weight returns to his seat and rough hands are cupping the sides of his face with the softest touch. Liam’s rubbing circles against Zayn’s temples with his thumbs, stroking the smooth, tan skin. He makes sure Zayn is looking back at him before speaking.

“Zayn, everyone feels like that sometimes and that’s okay. It doesn’t make you stupid at all. It makes you normal. You’re just stressed because your brain has so many things crammed into it that it doesn’t have any room to squeeze this useless crap in. Trust me Zayn, you’re too smart and too talented for this shit okay? And I know you think that you’re being a baby right now but it’s okay to get frustrated. I rather you come to me and cry than keep it all in okay?” He says with a small chuckle, his right thumb wiping away the one tear that traveled down Zayn’s cheek from the corner of his eye. Zayn gives a nod, relaxing into Liam’s palms. He closes his eyes again trying to catch a breath. He’s not crying, not really, he’s more shaking from pent up frustration and disappointment. The only way to stop his bottom lip from quivering is biting on it.

“And it’s only Mrs. Andrews yeah? She’s not that bad babe. I had her last year, probably the same test too so I can help you out if you want. I passed her class so I’m sure you’ll be able to ace it, okay Zee?” Again Zayn nods, still not trusting himself to speak for fear he might cry for real. Instead, he crosses his legs to match Liam’s and turns so that their knees are touching. He opens his textbook to the chapter.

“She said we were getting tested on everything in Chapter 9. It’s one of the easiest chapters but I still don’t understand it. Plus, the test is in two days.” Zayn says tugging at the longest locks on the top of his head. Liam runs his hand up Zayn’s neck to stop somewhere at the bottom to play with the short hairs there, then moves up to meet Zayn’s hand at the back of his head. He pushes their foreheads together and makes Zayn take a deep breath.

“That’s fine Zayn. We have two days so we can take it slow okay? I know you know this so just relax. I’ll help you babe, always.” So Liam takes the pencils out of Zayn’s hand and rips out a piece of folder paper from his notebook.

“Let’s get started…”

***

Liam approaches Zayn who is standing in front of his locker. He wraps his arm around Zayn’s waist and presses against the younger lad’s back. 

“Are you ready for today?” Liam whispers.

"Absolutely not," Zayn replied. He turned to face Liam leaning back on his locker and bring his arms around Liams shoulders. "I'm scared. I talked to Evan from first period and he said the test was really hard. He's a genius and if he struggled I'm definitely failing." Zayn sighed and tucked his head between Liam's neck and shoulder. Liam sighed in return and pulled his head away from Zayn who had a sudden interest in the floor of the schools dirty hallway. Liam rubbed Zayn's forehead with his thumb soothing the creases there before pressing lingering kisses wherever his thumb went. Liam pecked Zayn’s lips once before pulling away only a fraction, his breathe still mixing with Zayn's and neck straining with the angle. Zayn had his eyes closed from their proximity when Liam spoke. 

“Let’s ignore the fact that you are definitely smarter than Evan,” Liam grins and Zayn shakes his head. “You worked hard for this test Zayn, you’ve been studying your arse off all week and you know every bit of information inside out. You’ve worked so hard you’ve barely had any time for me,” Liam mocks with nothing but endearment behind his words. “You got this. I believe in you. Later you’re gonna be telling me all about how you aced it and shouldn’t have worried so much.” A small smile plays on Zayn’s lips and Liam flicks his nose before wishing Zayn good luck and walking off to class.

***

Liam’s normally the athletic one, but Zayn is sprinting all the way from class to field. 

He needs to catch Liam before practice starts because he’s so happy he feels ready to explode from it. He’s clutching his test in hand, feet pounding on the concrete of the athletic building when he spots Liam exiting the locker room onto the freshly cut grass. He picks up his pace and tackles Liam from behind, said boy letting out a grunt of surprise and twisting around so that they land on their sides and the papers in his hand aren’t ruined. 

The feeling of joy has tripled in size looking at Liam now who’s smiling at him. He feels every inch of his skin tingle when he hands Liam his test marked with a big, bold letter ‘A’ at the top. Liam’s eyes widen as if he were surprised and Zayn laughs when Liam lets out a cheer and throws his hands up around Zayn rocking him back and forth, tickling his neck with kisses. Zayn keeps laughing and Liam hasn’t stopped smiling and Louis comes by to kick Liam in the shin for ‘being a lazy arse and rolling on the ground with your boyfriend, we have practice’ before walking away with a smirk on his face. 

Liam gets up first and pulls Zayn to his feet and embracing him in another hug tighter than the one before. Zayn relishes the moment of peace after stressing himself to the breaking point leading up to this test. Liam kisses his hand and tells him that they can celebrate later with a wink that doesn’t work out because Liam is smiling still but Zayn pulls him in more time and kisses him. Their lips move with practice, the familiar taste of Liam comforting to Zayn as he lets his tongue explore Liam’s mouth. Liam nips at his bottom lip and he holds in a groan when Andy yells at them this time that the captain shouldn’t be lagging behind. Zayn pulls away and his smile has traveled from his mouth to his eyes. As Liam joins his team Zayn stops him and he looks back with his eyebrows raised in question.

“Thank you for believing in me.”

**Author's Note:**

> Tell me what you think? Thanks lovelies xx


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